130 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. 



The ration did not seem to affect them as fiivorably as some of 

 the others ; they were giving no more milk than before. I 

 am following along in that direction ; groping in the dark a 

 good deal. I do not know as clearly as I wish I did what I 

 am doing, or why I am getting the resnlts which I see, but 

 still I am going to follow along and watch. 



But the point that I rose to make was this : If there 

 could be some way contrived so that this vast mass of infor- 

 mation could be simplified, so that the fiirmer, as he takes it 

 up and looks at it, can say, " I see just what that means ; I 

 can take that and go to work with it just the same as with 

 my mowing-machine, or horse-rake, or plough," it seems to 

 me that we should get a vast amount of benefit ; a benefit 

 that would result in thousands, if not in millions, of dollars 

 to New England every single year. 

 Mr. West. What are you feeding? 



Mr. HiLLMAN. I am feeding meadow hay of tolerably 

 fair quality, corn stubble, the whole stalk cut up at the 

 roots, English hay, corn meal, ground cob and all, shorts 

 and cotton seed. 



Mr. West. In what proportions? 



Mr. HiLLMAN. I was satisfied from Prof. Sanborn's state- 

 ments that the best hay that we get, while it furnishes a good 

 share of carbo-hydrates, lacks protein ; and the same state- 

 ment applies to corn meal ; but cotton seed furnishes protein 

 very largely in excess of the carbo-hydrates ; and so I tried 

 to get an accurate balance of the various qualities that a cow 

 req^uires by adding what would furnish more of the protein 

 and less of the carbo-hydrates. Prof. Sanborn stated about 

 the quantity of carbo-hydrates and about the quantity of 

 protein that an animal requires, and I was able to determine 

 from what he said about what kind of food would furnish 

 those materials, and I tried to make up a combination which 

 would meet the wants of the animal. That is about what I 

 have tried to do in my feeble way. 



Mr. West. The combination is what I would like to 



know. 



Mr. IIiLLMAN. To start with, I give my cows ui the 

 morning meadow hay — not a very heavy foddering. As 

 soon as the hay is cleaned up, I feed the corn stover. Then 



